Shell Shock
by AFreezingFlame
Summary: In the spirit of playfulness- or maybe it was just revenge for that last prank on Austria- Hungary sets off a few firecrackers from America's birthday to mess with Prussia, and discovers a very well-kept secret.  PruHun if you squint.


Shell Shock

Summary: In the spirit of playful pranking- or maybe just revenge for that last prank on Austria- Hungary sets off a few firecrackers from America's birthday to mess with Prussia, and discovers a very well-kept secret. PruHun if you squint.

A/N: PruHun…. If I had to pick an OTP…..it would be this pairing. Bah. I'm fickle.

The other thing I'd like to mention is that while Germany and Italy were originally allies in WWI, the first time Germany meets Italy is towards the end, after Italy switched sides. Ergo, one might assume that Prussia took Germany's place on the front lines, and in my history class, a bunch of Prussian soldiers fought alongside the Germans, according to All Quiet on the Western Front.

Ah, but what is shell-shock? If you don't know, you most certainly will by the end of this fic!

A bit angsty, to be sure, but it has a happier resolution.

XXXXX

Hungary was unsurprised by the fact America had, once again, invited her and Austria to his annual birthday party, on July fourth.

She was also unsurprised by the fact there was a hastily written note in America's scrawl that said to also bring something for Canada, saying his birthday had been three days before America's own.

She was, once again, unsurprised to hear that Austria had forgotten the younger of the twin's existence once more. Just as she was unsurprised to hear that England would once again be drunk out of his mind for the duration of the party.

What did surprise the female nation was the fact that Prussia was _opting out_.

What the hell? Prussia opting out of a party? It was unheard of, and both she and Austria were amazed to hear it straight from the horse's mouth, as Prussia sheepishly told them that he and America celebrated something a bit more private a few days after.

What Austria didn't catch, was the look of fear in Prussia's red eyes. But what was he afraid of? Prussia always talked so largely of himself that Hungary often forgot the ex-nation was able to be anything but narcissistic.

Some forgotten feeling she had for the albino nation stirred up deep inside her.

But that feeling quickly vanished as Prussia pulled a half-hearted prank on Austria later that same day. Hungary knew it was half-hearted, simply because it didn't have the usual finesse that accompanied the pranks. It was done sloppily.

Once again, after she cleaned the mess up for her ex-husband, those forgotten feelings came back up, and something like concern popped up in her chest.

The brunette sighed, trying to push that feeling down again. It had been years since she had considered Prussia a personal friend, and though the albino had tried to rekindle that relationship during their time behind the iron curtain, Hungary had soon pushed him away in favor of trying to rekindle _her _relationship with her ex-husband.

She would often wonder of what would have happened if she had been even just a little kinder to him before and after the fall of Soviet Russia. It still tore at her heart that she had left him with Russia simply because she was impatient, and didn't notice the injured nation stumble and fall into the snow, only to not get back up.

Not that she regretted getting to see Austria again, or that she cared about Prussia. It was just that she felt as though no one, not even Prussia, deserved to be stuck under Russia's painful grip.

But regrets aside, Hungary was planning on pranking him back, just this once, for old time's sake, and maybe that feeling of nostalgia and regret would disappear. And maybe it would raise his spirits once more.

XXXXX

The days until America's party passed by rather quickly. She had already made her calls around, and gotten America to plan to get England home after the Brit got himself completely wasted. She had told France to stay away from Austria or meet her frying pan. She had gotten Veneziano to remember who Canada was. (Really, why did everyone forget him? He was so much nicer then America.)

All in all, it was a successful week.

On top of it all, she had carefully planned a prank on the albino ex-nation. One of the things that went down annually at America's place was a show of fireworks, which he set up creatively with the assistance of Hong Kong. Those fireworks would provide a very good chance for her to playfully prank her once best friend.

Hungary had heard from England just how many times Hong Kong had done so, and just how effective it had been most of the time. It seemed pretty harmless compared to some of the things Prussia had done over the years.

Hungary hoped that it would work.

XXXXX

"Happy Birthday, America!" Hungary and Austria exclaimed as they were let in by the younger nation. He was dressed up like what his people called, 'Uncle Sam', and his President was standing by, watching them all with amazement and wonder.

"Hungary, Austria, dudes! It's great to see you!"

"It is a pleasure to meet you two," America's boss said as he shook their hands. Hungary wondered absently how the hell he dealt with the excitable nation when he seemed so kind.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Mr. President." Hungary smiled as Austria spoke up. "And I believe your people say, Happy Fourth of July."

"Austria, seriously, cut it out, it's my birthday! You can stop acting like a gentleman now." America laughed as Austria looked at him with a hard glare.

"And happy belated birthday, Canada!" Hungary called out to the partially invisible nation standing behind them.

"E-eh….? Oh, hello Miss Hungary…" The younger twin called out to her, looking happy that someone had seen him. Next to her, Austria looked surprised, now just having noticed the other blond. "Oh, and thank you for the gift, Miss. Thanks for remembering…."

"It was no problem, Canada!" She cheerfully exclaimed as she hugged the nation. He gave her a shaky smile, before looking behind her.

"Where's Prussia?" He asked quietly. America tensed up slightly, and Hungary wouldn't have noticed unless she had spent so long trying to read Austria. America turned around, his face as happy as ever as he laughed loudly. But something in his blue eyes read differently.

"Dude, I thought I told you that Prussia doesn't come to this party! He and I do something else a bit different a few days from now!" Canada looked surprised.

"Oh." He murmured, looking confused. "That's weird…"

America chuckled, eyes dark. "You forget, Canada…. He trained me how to fight in the Revolution….Unlike you and England…. He and France helped me out…..before and after and always." He smiled, and Hungary felt the same kind of aura around him that she felt around Russia. Canada obviously felt the same thing, when another large knock was heard at the door.

America brightened up immediately, and answered the door to see the large, cold nation Hungary had compared him to. "Russia! Glad you could make it!"

"I wouldn't have missed it for the world, Comrade." He smiled threateningly, and Hungary shivered at the sight. America was impervious to this, which always amazed her.

"Oh, that's a lie and you know it!" America laughed. "There is no way you'd pick this over world domination!"

"True, Comrade….You know me well." The president tilted his head in greeting at the elder nation, while Hungary and Austria moved inside.

There it had been-that legendary dark side to America that had let him stand on equal grounds with the Soviet Union, and let them be great friends to this day. Austria walked over to talk to Germany, well, actually it was to help him get Italy off his back because he had been frightened once more by something America's house.

As soon as she was out of their sight, the female nation scanned the room for China and his city. China was hiding from Russia in the room adjacent, while Hong Kong was talking to Iceland. Eventually, the volcanic nation was called over by his brother, Norway, to help him out with Denmark.

It was then she moved.

Her hand, finely manicured, snaked out of the darkness to wrap around the city, and pull him into the hallway. He let out a muffled scream, but that died as he saw Hungary's face. As soon as he quieted, she removed her hand from his mouth, and shushed him.

He looked annoyed, but said in a low voice, "What the hell, Hungary?"

"I need your help." She whispered. "Can you get me a few firecrackers?"

The Asian city looked intrigued. "Why do you need them?" He asked, suspiciously, but Hungary could hear the undertone of curiosity.

"I want to prank someone." There was a spark in his eyes.

"Who?"

"….You don't need to know that right now." She said defensively. He grinned, brown eyes sparkling mischievously.

"Well then my dear… I think you are underestimating my… ability." He turned around. "Wait here, I'll bring you a couple America and I didn't use." He disappeared again.

Hungary huffed. "You better come back," She whispered.

XXXXX

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Hong Kong appeared again, appearing empty-handed, but in reality, he dumped a good deal of patriotic American firecrackers in front of her. Hungary almost felt worried for China, because if he could get this many on such short notice, how many could he get when he was really trying?

It frightened her a bit. Maybe she should warn him later….

"Here are the goods, Madam…" He spoke the last word in a mock British accent, undoubtedly making fun of the man who partially raised him. She had to chuckle softly as he bowed, before standing back up and rolling his eyes. "Try not to blow _too_ many things up."

"Thank you!" She exclaimed, picking them up off the floor.

Hong Kong disappeared, and Hungary stuck the fireworks in her purse. She would say happy birthday to the North American twins, before leaving to go to Germany's place. Prussia was undoubtedly over there, seeing as he was possibly the only European nation who hadn't come here who was also on good terms with North America.

She sighed as she willed herself to be where she needed to be. Few nations actually understood the truth behind their existence or their powers, but the ability to 'jump' to an important place is one of the gifts a nation could unlock. America had unlocked unnatural strength, Austria had unlocked the ability to play any song he has heard, by memory, perfectly, and Canada had unlocked the ability to become invisible.

Jumping, however, was something any nation could do, but few nations knew of.

When she opened her eyes, she was in Berlin. She smiled to herself. Prussia himself had taught her how to do this, because he was always on the run when he was little. Germania had treated him as if he were a devil.

_Lovely thought there…_ And on that note, she made her way to Germany's house where Prussia was currently slacking off.

XXXXX

She knew where the spare key was, the one that Germany kept out if Italy or Japan came over, or if Prussia accidently forgot his own pair. Hungary let herself in, and heard nothing in the house.

She crept downstairs into the basement, only to see that Prussia was in bed, sleeping soundly. It looked as if he had stayed up a little too late the night before, and had gone to bed to try and make up for it.

It almost looked cute, with that little yellow bird he kept around sleeping amongst his pure white hair, and his red eyes closed. And if he wasn't breathing, Hungary might have mistaken him for a statue.

She went back upstairs, laying a couple firecrackers in her wake, taking into mind that this was also Germany's home, and ensuring they would not leave damage.

As soon as she was at the top of the stairs, Hungary giggled slightly as she lit the end of the strand, seeing it light, before shutting the door to the basement quickly. This would teach Prussia not to prank Austria.

All of a sudden, a great deal of noise went off, and it was undoubtedly a very loud series of explosions and crackling noises that almost reminded her of her times in the trenches back during the Great War…. She shivered unconsciously. Hungary remembered how many troops went mad because of it, being unable to handle the new technology in warfare. Shell-shock, they had called it.

Only moments after the first firecracker went off, she heard Prussia let out a gasp of surprise, but then there was nothing from him, no noise whatsoever.

The firecrackers died down soon enough, and there was no damage in the stairway, because Germany's house would likely survive nuclear warfare, and the end of the world.

But there was no noise from Prussia, still. "Prussia?" Hungary called out to see if he would answer, something like worry settling in her gut. "Are you in here?" Still no answer.

The brunette walked down the stairs, and as soon as it was within her sights, she looked towards Prussia's bed. There was no longer a peaceful sleeping body, but instead a quivering mass hidden behind a wall that looked a bit like the sandbags Prussia called pillows.

It looked almost like…

Hungary's eyes widened at the realization. She heard frantic German coming from behind the wall made out of sandbag like pillows, and while she wasn't able to understand most of it, she got the concept. _Identify yourself, we are armed. _

Hungary highly doubted it, but she suspected she had woken the Prussian from a dream, and he hadn't quite woken up yet. She felt guilty.

She spoke in Hungarian first, trying to convey that she was an ally. He quieted, and then spoke in very shaky, broken Hungarian. _Are you…. ally?_

"Ja," She murmured in German, "Ungarisch." A few moments after she spoke, she heard a shaky sigh of relief, and heard some quiet German that told her to come over to his trench.

Instead of coming over to his 'side', Hungary cleared the pillow-sandbags away, and said, "Prussia?" In a soft voice, trying to get him to snap out of it, whatever this was.

He looked….pretty bad. His red eyes were wide, unseeing, uncomprehending, and fearful. As if he was having a complete mental breakdown, he no longer saw the fact he was in his own bedroom, in Germany's home, but saw something else…. And it became quite clear this wasn't a dream, but rather something that Hungary hadn't seen in many, many years.

Back then, they had called it Shell Shock, or Battle Fatigue. Now, it was more commonly called Post Traumatic stress or Acute Stress disorder.

It had been thought to be caused by the gassings first, or perhaps a physical effect of the shells being dropped on the trenches…. But it turned out it was all in their heads. Hungary felt an enormous amount of guilt pile on her as Prussia tried to comprehend what was happening around him.

Not thinking too much, Hungary drew the confused man into her arms, giving him an embrace. His hands groped around to find something to hold onto, eventually just grabbing onto the back of her green dress. She whispered small, tiny, insignificant things to him in Hungarian.

Hungary could feel his heart pounding in his chest, and rubbed circles on his back the way she used to when Holy Rome had been around, and eventually felt him go limp, his body stopping shaking, and relaxing from that tense state, and his heart fell back to a rate she was comfortable with.

A few minutes more of just the two of them holding onto each other in silent comfort before Prussia sat up and looked at her, questioning Hungary's presence with his tired red eyes.

"H-Hungary?" He muttered as he raised a white eyebrow, looking confused, but lucid. She let out a quiet sigh of relief that he didn't seem to be thinking they were in those trenches again. "A-Aren't you supposed to be at America's party?" He probed, trying to see why she was here.

All of a sudden it made sense why Prussia turned the invitation down, and why America was so accepting of it. It also explained why Prussia lived with Germany now, and why he had to have supervision most of the time.

He couldn't be left alone because he had protected his little brother from the horrors of that first great war, the war to end all wars. He couldn't be left alone because his mind could play tricks on itself and think it was back in that time where technology was introduced into warfare, and people with their older, less accepting minds couldn't handle it.

Hungary was surprised, yet unsurprised at the same time. It made sense why he never used guns- or, for that matter, anything with particularly loud noises because there was no war. He used a sword. Neither France nor Spain used a gun when they were reenacting past battles.

"H-Hungary…?" Prussia whispered, body sore from his earlier tenseness. "Y-You saw it….didn't you?"

"Yes…" She spoke evenly, unable to lie to this nation who she had once called her best friend.

"And?" He spoke bitterly. "Aren't you going to go tell that pansy Austria that the awesome me still gets scared at the sound of explosions?"

"No. That is dishonorable and unladylike." She huffed. "There are things that he doesn't tell me, and things I don't tell him. That is probably why we aren't going to be getting back together, wishful thinking aside…."

Prussia looked surprised, red eyes wide. "I thought you loved him." He spoke softly, almost sounding…broken, shattered, vulnerable, hopeful….all at once.

Hungary sighed. "So did I. But, Prussia- let's make this a promise among men…You don't tell Austria that I'm not into him anymore, I can do that myself…. And I won't tell anyone you're still shaking off those old war scars…"

Prussia's eyes faded back into distrust. "How do I know that you aren't going to tell….Or, better yet- how do you know I am not going to tell…? I am _such a devil_ after all…"

Hungary once again thought back to the day she left her friendship with the albino to be with Austria. Prussia, who had tried so hard to have a right in this world, Prussia, who was always by her side while they had been behind the iron curtain…. Prussia, who was still waiting for her after all these years…..Prussia, who put himself in front of his brother at the cost of his sanity…

"No, I have a feeling you won't tell….After all….. You never told anyone I was a girl until I came around to telling everyone else…" Hungary smiled as she took one of his hands into her own. "And I don't think you'll need to worry about me….because I'll be here, helping you get over this… So you and I can be awesome again."

Prussia looked shocked, but said nothing as Hungary just brought the ex-nation into a hug.

He briefly hugged the brunette back, and smiled, because he might have just gotten his best friend and partner in crime back…

XXXXX

"But," Hungary spoke up, looking stern, "Before you ask, _yes_, Austria is off-limits…."

"Aw…." Prussia pouted.

"…..Unless I can get it on camera…."

XXXXX

A/N: Once again, I say WTF. How did I get here so quickly...?

Please review! Reviews are like love, and for the SAKE OF HETALIA~ MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR!


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